Penguins' Martin (fractured tibia) joins injury list

Forwards Beau Bennett (wrist) and Tanner Glass (hand) and defenseman Paul Martin (leg) sustained injuries during the Penguins' recent two-game road trip. Bennett had surgery on his wrist and will be out 8-10 weeks, Martin will miss 4-6 weeks, and Glass will be sidelined for 3-4 weeks.

Martin played with a fractured tibia for some time during the third period of Pittsburgh's 4-3 overtime loss to the Boston Bruins on Monday, according to Penguins coach Dan Bylsma.

"It is a condensed schedule. Practice time is more like recovery time than it is in most seasons because of the break in the middle of the year," Bylsma said. "For us, if you break a bone, you kind of break a bone. I don't think that’s a factor of being tired or not."

"There are always a lot of injuries, a lot of call-ups," Orpik said. "Guys are used to adjusting their games accordingly. Every one brings a different style to the table, but you just try to focus on yourself and there's little things you tinker with. Most of us have played with each other at some point."

Despres, who was second in points among Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s defensemen with 11, could make his NHL season debut.

"I'm happy to be back and will try to contribute to the team's success," Despres said. "I went back down [to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton] and work harder and come back stronger. That was my mindset."

The Penguins have battled injuries throughout the season's first two months. Neal missed 15 games with an upper-body injury and Letang missed the season's first nine games with an injured knee. Bennett missed 11 games with a previous lower-body injury.

Pittsburgh holds a five-point lead over the Washington Capitals atop the Metropolitan Division and Maple Leafs coach Randy Carlyle said that is a testament to the Penguins' depth.

"We're playing against world-class players and the best player in the League this year [Crosby]," Carlyle said. "They haven't got a bad second-line center [Malkin] either. He seems to get some things done for them. They have more than just Crosby and Malkin also. They have Neal back and Kunitz has had a great year.

"They have a lot of firepower and a lot of things are going well for them. If there is a template we could copy, it would be the Pittsburgh model."